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Improving Academic Presentation Style

I give a lot of talks, and I've been trying to improve my presentation style, but I'm not sure how to do it in the context of my field. I am in a fairly quantitative science. I have to give presentations where I present results; I am 'selling' the result to the audience, but not in the same way, I think, that one would sell a product, or an idea, or a concept. I'm attempting to convince them that it's right, and that I was diligent in pursuing the result.

One common technique is to simply overwhelm the audience with lots of facts and charts and bullet points. Obviously this is a bad idea -- but on the other hand, if you don't give enough 'serious-looking' plots, you run the risk of being dismissed by members of the audience.

So how do I strike a balance? How do I keep my presentations in the manner of a good narrative, with appropriate display methods, when constrained by an audience that has a certain expectation of a larger number of quantitative figures and numbers?

mamelouk's picture

I've waited for someone to ask me this question

Hi, first of all, thanks for the presentation you made at google, I discovered you there, and since, I always keep my inbox clean (also, I've read GTD - a book I wasn't even aware of, because my primary langage is french). so I think your style of presentation is good, (since you had an influence on me).

But still, I want to introduce you to a book which I discovered on lifehack.org ( http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/book-discussion-chip-and-dan-heaths-made-to-stick.html ) which can help you make you ideas more "sticky" (I can't find a better word). After reading that book, I thought that the principles discussed in this book should be teached in school.

This book is named "Made to Stick", and I just hope so much you will read it. http://www.madetostick.com/

Regards

 
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